3 Indians players who should consider T20I retirement
India’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign ended with an embarrassing defeat against England in the semi-final round. India were big favorites to win the tournament after a string of impressive performances prior to the World Cup. India managed to win four of their five Super 12 group-stage games and topped Group 2 with eight points, the highest among all twelve teams. But they lost the semi-final clash against England by 10 wickets.
Indian team remain at top of the rankings chart in T20I cricket despite their failure to reach the final of the World Cup and the 2022 Asia Cup in September. But the management needs to make some big changes to the current setup if they wish to change India’s fortune in the big tournaments. Few players definitely need to improve their game and consistency and few should consider retirement from the shortest format for a benefit of a team. Let’s take a look at three players who should consider T20I retirement.
Rohit Sharma
The current Indian captain has been above average with leadership skills but has been hot and cold in major tournaments. His consistency with batting has been on a sharp decline lately with just 116 runs from six innings at a poor strike rate of 116.66 in the recent World Cup. He will be the age of 38 when India play the next T20 World Cup in 2024 and so he should consider retiring from T20I cricket, which will give team management enough time to prepare for the next tournament with new surroundings.
Ravichandran Ashwin
The 36-year-old off-spinner was India’s first-choice spin option in the recent T20 World Cup and kept Yuzvendra Chahal on the bench throughout the tournament. Ashwin took six wickets but proved costly on the Australian conditions. He has impressive numbers in T20I cricket but his biggest strength remains his consistency in the red-ball format. Ashwin should give preference to Tests and retire from white-ball cricket.
Mohammed Shami
Shami was not part of India’s main squad for the World Cup but was inducted after the injury to star pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Shami took only six wickets from six innings and failed to fill the void in the absence of Bumrah. Shami, 32, has been dropped from India’s next T20I series against New Zealand and is unlikely to get recalled in future games. Shami has been a crucial figure in India’s Test team and should put his entire focus on it.
